NASA managers have delayed by one day the next spacewalk to repair ISS’s cooling system. Now set for August 16, this spacewalk will install the new pump. The date of a fourth spacewalk to finish up the work is as yet unscheduled.
The Japanese are considering upgrades to their unmanned HTV freighter that carries cargo to ISS. The upgrades would allow HTV to return large cargo to Earth, as well as possibly become a manned vehicle.
An evening pause: Mike Finke’s tour of ISS continues in the Progress freighter, moves through the Zarya functional cargo module into the Zvezda service module at the aft end of the station, showing us a Russian crew cabin and the station’s main bathroom facilities.
An evening pause: Astronaut Mike Finke’s tour of ISS continues, taking us through the Unity module and into the Russian part of the station, showing us the inside of a Soyuz lifeboat, the Zarya functional cargo module, the Piers docking module/airlock, and ending looking into the hatch of a Progress freighter.
With the success of yesterday’s spacewalk, NASA engineers have revamped their remaining spacewalk plans for replacing that failed pump. The third spacewalk has been moved from Sunday to Monday to give everyone more time to prepare, and they are now planning a fourth spacewalk after that to finish things up.
Today’s spacewalk on ISS was a complete success. The astronauts successfully removed the failed coolant pump and made preparations to install the replacement pump on their next spacewalk.
NASA officials have reviewed the list of Near Earth Objects and found only three that meet all the constraints for a manned mission. Key quote:
Out of the 44 reachable asteroids, 27 were too small, and only 15 have orbits that allow for exploration between 2020 and 2050 — the timeframe NASA wants to pursue for NEO missions. The 180-day mission constraint further cuts the list to three.
It must also be noted that none of these asteroids are reachable without a heavy-lift rocket like the Ares V.
Here’s another detailed look at tomorrow’s planned spacewalk, and what NASA engineers are doing on the ground and what the astronauts will do in space to eliminate the ammonia leak.
SpaceX is readying its Dragon capsule for its first test flight, sometime this fall.
An evening pause: Mike Finke’s tour of ISS continues, showing us the Columbus module, a crew cabin, the Destiny module, and into the Harmony module.
NASA engineers are working out a strategy for the next spacewalk, now tentatively scheduled of Wednesday, to continue repair efforts on the International Space Station. The new plans call for the astronauts to close several valves on the leaking coolant line while ground controllers lower pressure on the line, then drain the excess ammonia from it. This will hopefully allow the astronauts to disconnect the line from the pump without spewing ammonia all over the place, and then proceed with the removal of the failed pump.
The efforts to fix the cooling system on ISS has not only limited use of the humans inside the station. It has delayed the maintenance work of the Canadian-built robot Dextre on the outside of the station.
